Beyond Blessed

I felt the need to write this blog. I talk all the time about the happenings in our lives, particularly those of our children. But the last year has brought some different stresses on us.

Daniel works in the mortgage industry. Need I say more? Well, I will anyway. He actually works for a Mortgage software company. Suffice it to say that his company has not been immune to the impact of the mortgage crisis. As the past year has gone on, and we have seen the outlook for the industry getting more and more grim, and as we have seen so many companies close their doors, and others who can barely leave them open, we have seen without a doubt how blessed we truly are.

Daniel loves his job. He truly has a passion for what he does and has no desire to do anything else. I think he would be happy if he never worked anywhere else the rest of his life. I addition to that, he has been able to make a suitable living for us, where our bills are paid and our children are taken care of each month. In an economy like this one, that's more than many families can say. While it has certainly been a stressful time for him, we are both so grateful that he has been blessed with continued employment. With a new baby to pay for, a toddler who spent some time in the PICU recently, and all of life's other expenses, I know how tough it would be if he were one of the many people in his industry who lost their jobs.

So first of all, I want to thank the Lord for blessing us so generously. Even though I'm sure there are so many others who deserve those blessings far more than we do. And secondly, I want to thank Daniel for working so hard to provide for this family, for dealing with these new stresses the best he can, and for being willing to do whatever it takes to weather this storm.

This situation has certainly opened my eyes to the importance of being prepared (which I will add, we really aren't), and to living within our means. To be honest, it's scared the crap out of me (can you use the word crap in a blog about blessings?). I've become more committed to finishing building our years supply, to cutting costs where we can, to paying off bills as quickly as possible, and to putting money away in case of hard times. We certainly are not anywhere near as prepared as we ought to be, but I can say that at this point, we can say we are making progress, and that we are committed to getting there.